The Iowa Hawkeyes will enter the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season looking for a return to the NCAA Tournament.
It remains to be seen whether the combination of in-house development, several transfer portal additions and a hopeful return from its biggest star can propel Iowa back into the NCAA Tournament.
In his May rendition of bracketology, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Iowa Hawkeyes in the mix for an NCAA Tournament berth, but, ultimately, on the outside looking in.
Iowa is among Lunardi’s “Next Four Out” teams, joining the Big 12’s Colorado and TCU and the West Coast Conference’s San Francisco in that distinction.
Iowa finished with a 19-15 (10-10 Big Ten) record and missed out on the Big Dance in 2024 for the first time since 2018, ending a stretch of four straight NCAA Tournament trips beforehand.
The Hawkeyes did earn an invite into the National Invitation Tournament to cap last season. Iowa topped Kansas State, 91-82, before falling at Utah, 91-82, in the second round of the NIT.
Now, as Iowa turns the page to next season, the Hawkeyes have turned to the transfer portal to help retool their roster. Iowa has brought in Morehead State guard Drew Thelwell alongside Manhattan transfer forward Seydou Traore to bolster its ranks.
Thelwell averaged 10.0 points, 6.2 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 43.5% from the floor, 33.8% from 3-point range and 64.5% from the charity stripe.
Traore averaged 11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 43.3% from the field, 25.6% from 3-point range and 80.0% from the charity stripe.
The 6-foot-7, 215 pound swingman just completed his freshman season where he scored in double figures in 18 contests. That included 16 points and eight rebounds in a game at Kansas on Nov. 10, 2023.
Traore also registered 10 games with double-figure rebounds, including four contests where he pulled down a dozen or more boards.
Iowa is awaiting a stay-or-go decision from its leading scorer a season ago, forward Payton Sandfort. The 6-foot-7 forward from Waukee, Iowa, averaged 16.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and shot 44.6% from the field, 37.9% from 3-point range and 91.1% from the foul line.
Sandfort has until June 16 at 4 p.m. CT to withdraw his name from the 2024 NBA draft.
If Sandfort returns, Iowa would put together a nice nucleus of players that would feature Sandfort, freshmen forwards Cooper Koch and Chris Tadjo, sophomore forwards Owen Freeman, Ladji Dembele, Pryce Sandfort and Seydou Traore, sophomore guard Brock Harding, junior guard Josh Dix and senior guard Drew Thelwell.
A trio of Hawkeyes made decisions to play their next collegiate seasons elsewhere. Guards Dasonte Bowen and Tony Perkins transferred to St. Bonaventure and Missouri, respectively, while forward Patrick McCaffery transferred to Butler.
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Story originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire
